Tag: Abby Gilad

This Shabbat we read the portion of Ki Tavo. In it, Moses tells the Israelites that if they obey all the commandments, they will be blessed with good food, good weather and a good life. But if they disobey the commandments, they will be cursed with misfortune.

Labor Day is Sept. 5. We think of all the people who work hard to feed their families. Jews have always been very involved in helping those who are in need. They have established labor unions; they have fought for fair wages; they have led movements to...

Even though it's summer, you can still learn a thing or two. The first thing you need to know about the Jewish calendar is that it is a lunar calendar -- following the phases of the moon. That means that each month has 29 or 30 days in it. The solar calendar (that's the...

July 4, which is this Monday, means barbecues, parades, beaches and fireworks. And why do we do all this? Because the United States of America was "born" on this date in 1776, when the Declaration of Independence was signed. The 13 colonies became an independent...

Life is a puzzle, don't you think? It's just not always that easy to put all the pieces together in order to see the big picture. But the more we practice, the better we get at it. So, here are a bunch of fun puzzles to get your juices going!

Passover eez my favorite time of zee year, because I get to start counting. Do you know vat it eez that I vant to count? Here is a teeny veeny hint: 5, 12, 30, 51 – These numbers correspond to letters in this paragraph. Start counting!

On the holiday of ____________, we celebrate the season of ____________. On this holiday, we eat matzah to remind us of the Israelites’ bread that did not have time to ____________.
This year, it came a bit later...

The letter shin is a big one this week: It is Shabbat Shira (vrha) – the Shabbat of Song, it is the month of Shevat (,ca) and it is the portion of B'Shalach. The Israelites cross the Sea of Reeds in this portion and, in an outpouring of gratitude, they sing a song,...

In Parshat Vayera, God does a math trick with names: He takes the letter yud (h)out of sarai's name. Then he divides it equally. Look at the chart below to discover how much the letter yud is worth in gematria. Now, what two letters does God come up with and where does...

In this week's portion, Lech Lecha, we learn about a fight between the shepherds of Abraham and his nephew, Lot. There was plenty of space for everyone, but they weren't getting along so it seemed too crowded. Our rabbis teach us that when two people get along, they can...

On Yom Kippur, we say the Kol Nidrei prayer. This means "all vows." It is a prayer that absolves us of promises we made during the year that we didn't keep. This prayer was first written for the Spanish Jews (the Marranos) who were forcibly converted to Christianity during...

Did your school do anything in honor of Sept. 11? America will have that date stamped on its memory forever. Because of the way the Jewish calendar works, Sept. 11 will often fall near Rosh Hashanah.
Begin this New Year with thoughts about how to make this a world of peace. What can you do to make this happen?

Do you have a backyard? Is it green and full of flowers and trees?
In Matot-Masei, we learn that God believes green space is an absolute necessity. God tells the Israelites: "Set aside some of your land for the Levites, so they can build towns. Make sure that there is...

The five daughters of Tzlophchad (say that 10 times fast!) went to Moses and said: "The law says that if a man dies his property goes to his sons. But our father doesn't have any sons! What will become of all his property? Please change the law so that we can keep...

In Parshat Naso, all the tribes bring offerings to the finished tabernacle: animals, food and incense.
On Memorial Day, we make an offering to all the soldiers who died in all of our wars. We bring flowers to their graves, raise the American flag and honor...

Lag B'Omer, the 33rd day of the counting of the days between Pesach and Shavuot, will be celebrated on May 9. The letters lamed and gimmel, which spell the word "lag," have a value of 33. It's a time to light a campfire with your parents and friends, and to make toy...

Passover is a holiday that celebrates freedom and the coming
of spring. And it is no coincidence that everyone does spring-cleaning. Life
starts anew. We need to clean out the old to make room for new beginnings. On
Passover, we conduct a seder to remind us of this. In...

In the third book of the Torah, Leviticus, we learn a lot about the Levites, who were the priests in the Tabernacle; we also learn about the different sacrifices for different types of sins. If you committed a sin on purpose, you brought one kind of sacrifice; if you did...

In the Torah portion Ki Tisa, the Israelites take one ingredient -- gold -- and they melt, bake and mold it into a calf because they are fearful that Moses will not come back down the mountain. It turned out to be a bad idea and God became very upset with the...

In our Torah we have reached Parshat Mishpatim. The Israelites have just been given the Ten Commandments, and now God spends a whole portion giving them laws that they will have to observe when they reach the Land of Israel.

Tu B'Shevat is here, a holiday for the trees. Make sure you join in on some of the fun events that will be happening: Go to the Shalom Institute for a Tu B'Shevat celebration on Feb. 8, the Westside JCC for an afternoon of fun or...

Did you know Jacob was an adventurer and a scientist? He figured out that if speckled sheep mate only with other speckled sheep, then their babies will all be speckled. That's how he became a rich man. He told his father-in-law, Laban, that he wanted "only"...

That is what our year is. The year is a circle from one Rosh Hashanah to another. Your birthday is a circle from one birthday to another. And on Simchat Torah, we celebrate the circle of the Torah. Every year we read through the whole Five books of Moses, and we...

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